Complaint Review: Sears Home Sevice - Ae Factory Service

my samsung fridge was not cooling on fridge side. i notice ice blocking the cooling vent ports and on the back wall of fridge. the evaporator was freezing up preventing air flow to fridge. called samsung because fridge was 3 years old and still under sealed system warranty. samsung first told me to call a authorized repair service company in the next state which didn't service my area. then they referred me to sears home service as an authorized repair service. i was told that if the problem was not sealed system i would have to pay for repair but if it was a sealed system then it was covered by samsung warrany.
called sears set up appointment and a repair man named sergio came to my home and after about 15 mins told me it was the heater and it wasn't defrosting the evaporator.
then sergio goes out to truck looks up the parts diagram on his computer. upon returning he says that my fridge doesn't have a heater that the part that was needed to fix the fridge was a thermo bimetal sensor. (says thermo senco on reciept). he says it was not the evaporator and was not the sealed system and not under warranty therefore i would have to pay $260 for parts and labor to repair. i paid and he ordered the parts he claimed were defective and set up appointment for a date after they were shipped to my home. he told me to finish defrosting my evaporator by pouring warm water on evaporator till all ice was gone then put the back panel back on fridge and shelves back in and fridge should work for a week or sowhile i waited for the parts. ( i thought that was what i was paying them to do!). about 2 weeks later the reirman came to put in these parts ( a different guy) he installed them correctly and left. fridge worked ok for about 2 weeks then froze up again! called sears made another appointment and a new repairman comes looks over notes figuring heater was replaced and said maybe its the display on the door was defective it controls the defrost feature. parts come and yet another repairman comes out says its not the display that controls the defrost its the pcb (power control board) behind the fridge. orders part leaves and when part comes this time same repair that ordered the pcb comes and puts the part in. he leaves fridge works 2 weeks then froze up again. every time this freeze up haopens fridge goes up to 51-54 degrees milk and many other things goes bad!. called sears they send another repair guy out this is 5th service call over 3 months. this time the repair guy says the thermo senco isn't the heater. he looks in his computer then calls STAC (sears technical assistance center) then he gets a method to force the fridge into defrost by pressing some keys in certain order on display panel. he does this and the fridge starts making crackling noises he opens the fridge door and the evaporator starts arcing out (sparks) to the back of fridge (there is black marks fromcharing on back wall of fridge and aluminum near the problem from it arcing out!. the repair guy says you need a new evaporator and that it is covered under warranty he orders the evaporator and new drier tube also covered and a new compressor also covered per STAC reccomendation. parts come new service call scheduled.
guess what its sergio the first guy who botched the repair the first time who comes to put evaporator it! sergio puts the evaporator in and the dryer tube but takes the compressor back never installing it! also i have a newly remodeled kitchen with new higher end textured vinyl floor while sergio is behind the fridge standing on the sheet metal compressor cover that is vented braising the dryer tube in the compressor cove stabs trough my new floor! about a 4 inch rip in the floor. he finishes the work then leaves before making sure the fridge start cooling again! (in a hurry after i notice the rip in the floor). guess what the frige never starts cooling after his work and now the freezer side which was always working start losing temperature too!
called sear and they send a new repair guy the next day! turns out that not only did sergio misdiagnose order and charge me for parts that did fix the fridge on the fist call and ripped a hole in my new floor the second time but also botched the braising of the dryer tube preventing the refridgerant from circuating which caused the whole fridge not cooling! so the next guy had to cut off the drier tube and replace it with a new one yet again the day after sergio put one in. after this the fridge was finally working again after almost 4 months january 17-april 29 2008 of not being able to even have milk in my fridge and losing meats and milk atleats 2 times due to this!

i call up the region office and try to get a supervisor! keep getting the he isn't available but they take my name and tell me he will call me later that day or tomorrow! after about 2 weeks of trying to talk to the supervisor and calling every day they finally connect me to him (jim rouse) not sure if i spelled it right at the danvers mass regional location. they agree to pay for the floor and tell me they will send a check (they did end up sending the money for the repair a few weeks later after i sent them the estimate from the flooring company). i also point out that i shouldn't have had to pay for this repair since the proble was the evaporator and it was covered by samsung! he says he willlook into that and call me back that day or next morning (he was kinda rushing me to get off the line)
called back several more times but never agin was i able to speak to him they also refuse to connect to supervisor and say they will call back nobody ever even once called me back i alway had to initiate every call to them!
now i started calling the corperate consumer relations dept in illinois. after several calls to them and being told they would have a customer relations supervisor return my calls and never once did one call. i decided to call them one last try to settle this before i goto small claims and file a complaint with the BBB. i got a woman named shawana (not a supervisor) i told her that i was trying my best to resolve this amicable and reasonably and all i wanted is a supervisor to once discuss this situation! i told her if i cannot be connected to a supervisor i would have no choice but file a dispute with my credit card or pursue the matter through small claims court. at that time shawana said since I told her that that they will no longer discuss or communicate with me about this matter and then hung up!
i live one block from the local court i immediatly walked over and filed in small claims.

during this whole process of repairs almost every repairman that came strongly touted how they stand behing thier service 100% and they have a so called "satisfaction guarentee or your money back" policy and its even on the back of every reciept. yet what relly is the truth is that sears/AE stands behind its service until there is a problem then gives you run around makes you try to chase down a supervisor via phone but never allows you to speak to a supervisor nor does one ever call you back!
my feeling it why should i have to pay for a repairmans misdiagnosis and wild goose chase when i told them the problemwas the evaporator from day on it printed on the remarks on the first call reciept! at the same time im out 260 bucks to replace parts i didn't need! sear gets paid by me and also by samsung to repair the same issue the faulty evaporator! and in 2 service calls by this tech segio both time service was botched and one of the times my floor was damaged and now a seamless floor instalation had to be repaired but i have to have a seam they get paid twice for a warranty repair i get screwed!
now we will be going to small claims on 8/6/08 and i will be filing a dispute with my credit card company.
I would think twice before callin them! also a key note is the so called 4 hour window service time turns out to be 9-5 everytime even tho they state they give you a 4 hour window on the back of evey reciept!
its no wonder why the stock is dropping and they are losing market share to other big box store!

kevin
westfield, Massachusetts
U.S.A.

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